From ImageWeb

Defining Image Access

DefiningImageAccess/RelatedWork

The Digital Picture

The JISC/AHDS Digital Picture Project

• http://thedigitalpicture.ac.uk/home.html
• http://thedigitalpicture.ac.uk/documents/pdf/digital_picture_final_report.pdf

"The rise of digital images and their supporting technologies within arts education brings, without doubt, one of the biggest and most profound changes that the sector has ever seen. Everything, from teaching in the classroom to finding images in the library, is having to adapt to the new model."

"The primary aim of the Digital Picture was to identify tangible problems relating to digital images, within the visual arts education community, and to then outline feasible solutions to those problems."

A key element of this project was engagement with a substantial number of arts and humantities educators, and distillation of opinions thus garnered.

"The findings of the Digital Picture confirm that the arts education’s most pressing problem (relating to digital images) is generally perceived as how lecturers, students, librarians et al will be able to access the images they need in light of the potential demise of the traditional slide library."

and

"There is a serious lack of appropriate images (e.g. subject specific) in the digital domain;

• legal, IPR and copyright restrictions are stifling the ability to create/use digital images;
• there is no usable, helpful structure for finding and obtaining images;
• there is no structure for facilitating or managing ‘loans’ of digital images;
• formats, and pixel quality, are not necessarily appropriate for use;
• it is difficult to share/pool digital image resources;
• there is a lack of use of common standards (or of standards at all);
• appropriate safeguards and provenance are not available;
• there is a lack of resource and support for the use of digital images."

Considering these problems:

"Community members may be better served through a series of diverse components and methods which, through working together with common aims, could gradually move towards a future where digital image needs will be met. After all, many of the images that are required are already available in digital form (or soon will be) and a huge proportion of them are, theoretically at least, already in the public domain or ‘free’ for educational use. The solution to providing the arts education community with easy access to the images it needs may be about process not product; the priority, not to build a one-stop website, but to figure out how we can share information."

It appears that this survey was conducted during a time of considerable change in user's attitudes toward digital images. An early opinion suggesting that the solution must be a subscription-based library of digital images has given way to a sense that users, working as individuals and small communities, need greater empowerment to create and assemble their own collections which can be used in conjunction with more centralized provision. The report makes explit mention of this: "over the time that the Digital Picture project has been running, it has become clear that the culture has already started to change" (an observation made with respect to image providers working as part of a community rather than as indivuduals).

This comment might be taken directly from a manifesto for image data webs: "In principle, the proposal is to enable or facilitate, a process whereby the images that are needed within education are made available, via whichever access point a given user chooses to use. Whilst a ‘portal’ to the images may be inevitable, it is through permitting different services to bolt themselves onto the collections that is key; for example, institutional repositories, VLEs or subject-specific services should be able to develop interfaces (based on the needs of their own users) to the entire collection, or to whichever part of it is appropriate. After all, another stand-alone online service, added to the list of already existing services, will only be creating another layer of complexity and another competitor to the image provider arena." Although, I'd add that services shouldn't be restricted to accessing a single collection; combining multiple sources should be facilitated.

The report goes on to give a fairly detailed analysis of survey responses based on a questionnaire and workshops. In summary, this project is a useful summary of attitutdes and high level requirements from the arts education community relating to digital images. It is (by design) very light on technical suggestions and ideas.